Injured ‘crook-aburra’ saved by vets after dog attack
A BRAZEN kookaburra which tried to steal food from a dog in a Cairns resident's backyard and came off second best is being nursed back to health by a local vet clinic who performed intricate surgery to save its leg.
The bird, who staff at Balaclava Veterinary Clinic have christened "crook-aburra", was brought into the clinic by a wildlife carer on Thursday with a badly broken lower limb.
But believing it could be saved, they decided to operate and after a night of R&R at the home of Dr Aki Matsui it is on the mend.
"The leg will not go perfectly back to normal, but it will probably be OK to go back to the wild," he said.
"It's got a little pin in it at the moment.
"It will probably need to be kept in captivity for the next two months but then it should go back to the wild."
Dr Matsui said after leaving the clinic the bird will be looked after by wildlife carers before being released.
He said while the clinic often cared for wallabies through their association with the Agile Wallaby Project, they rarely treated kookaburras.
Originally published as Injured 'crook-aburra' saved by Cairns vets after dog attack
